Salom tag at third ends wild 11-inning victory

MIDLAND, Mich. – Henry Bolte forced extra innings with a two-out RBI double in the ninth, Carlos Amaya delivered a sacrifice fly in the eleventh, and Dereck Salom deked pinch-runner Jake Vogel and applied the game-ending tag in the bottom of the eleventh, as the Lansing Lugnuts (14-17) won a wild 7-6 contest over the Great Lakes Loons (20-11) on Friday night at Dow Diamond.

Lugnuts manager Craig Conklin was not around for the finish, ejected in the top of the second inning for disputing a ruling that Colby Halter failed to properly tag up at second on an Amaya flyout.

The game rollercoastered into the ninth inning: Will Simpson delivered an RBI double in the third and a two-run double in the fifth for a 3-2 lead; Chris Newell popped a two-run homer in the home half for a 4-3 Loons edge; the Lugnuts tied it on a Brayan Buelvas RBI single in the seventh; and the Loons took a 5-4 lead in the eighth on a Sam Mongelli run-scoring double play.

Flamethrowing Edgardo Henriquez set down the first two batters in the ninth before Jonny Butler sent a ball sizzling through first baseman Nick Biddison and landed at second. Bolte followed by crushing a 1-2 pitch off the top of the left field wall, tying the game.

Each team scored in the tenth inning: The Lugnuts took a 6-5 lead on an Euribiel Ángeles sacrifice fly in the top half, but the Loons answered on a Jake Gelof RBI double in the home half.

Facing Livan Reinoso in the eleventh, placed runner Halter moved to third on a Danny Bautista, Jr. groundout and then tagged properly and scored on Amaya’s lineout to right.

In the home half, Vogel replaced Luis Rodriguez at second. New reliever Colton Johnson set down Nick Biddison on a groundout to Salom at third and struck out Kyle Nevin. With Thayron Liranzo at the plate, Vogel broke for third, arriving safely as Amaya throw was taken in on a short-hop by Salom in front of the bag. But Vogel lost sight of the ball and stepped off the bag – with the alert Salom immediately rushing in and tagging him out to end the game.

In the win, leadoff hitter Butler went 3-for-5 with two singles, a double and two runs scored, while Bolte drew two walks, was hit by a pitch and scored two runs in addition to his game-tying double.

The fifth game of the six-game set will see a matchup of top pitching prospects at 1:05 p.m. Saturday, with Lansing right-hander Luis Morales challenging Loons lefty Jackson Ferris.

Following the Sunday conclusion of the series, the Lugnuts will return home for a six-game series with Lake County from May 14-19. Tickets are available for purchase at the Jackson® Field™ box office, available for purchase at (517) 485-4500 or online at milb.com/lansing.

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